frillish

Monday

• daily
• beauty
• reads

Hello, happy Monday

I went to the dentist today, which is one of my favourite activities I can’t explain it, but I always feel so nicely taken care of at the dentist’s, so I’m really happy whenever I go. I told them I love coming to my appointments and they were so happy

Recently, I bought a bunch of treats from Trader Joe’s

I got a bunch of the frozen kimbap (repacking them so they don’t get mixed up with my housemates’ purchases) and the seasonal lemon sheet cake I cut it up to freeze, but tried a slice and it’s SO sweet! Definitely a treat

With fresh produce, I’ve been making goji berry kale smoothies I really only eat goji berries around summertime since I always associate them with smoothies, so it’s really nice to have a sweet treat!

Our friends invited us to enjoy Honda-ya I haven’t had it in a long time, so it was fun to go! This was part of the bigger friend circle, so they wanted to share a super tall “beer tower”. It was my first time seeing one

The boys wanted more so they got a second tower, but then… they struggled to finish it

Tried their poke salad, and the cucumber appetizer Both were really delicious! I need to learn how to make the cucumber salad myself…

On Saturday, I wanted to try a cute date brekkie at BAUM Tea & Coffee since I saw they have cute souffle pancakes and tasty coffees! But OMG, I didn’t expect the prices to raise by around 50% compared with what was shown 2 months ago according to menu photos in reviews once I got there in person. So like, the custard bear rose a whole $5 in just a few months The drinks rose a bit too.

I guess it’s average price around here but it’s tough to order a $9 latte pre-tax.

I felt bad about it but the manz said he knew I’d like the custard bear pancake so I should order it anyway, so I figured we can enjoy it once and maybe not come back for a while lol

So we got the custard bear to share I also ordered their ube espresso latte, and the manz got a cafe latte. Their espresso is so strong! This was another day my manz said I was “tweaking”

The bear isn’t as jiggly as the cat pudding, but I loved seeing how soft the bear was! The taste was really eggy and airy as well - and not too sweet at all!

After the breakfast, we went to try to find some delicious hummus. The manz thought the mediterranean market would be good to try, so we went to visit & he got a super big bread

We ended up getting their fresh made hummus, but… it honestly just was okay. Also, it was pretty expensive! Just around the same cost per lb as my current favourite hummus, Little Sesame.

After this, we were thinking we should just try to make our own hummus.

For dinner, we went to Habuya Okinawan Dining

Yes… it was in the same day as our brekkie! I usually don’t like to go out twice in the same day, especially if it wasn’t a special occasion, but the manz was busy on Sunday so he suggested just enjoying them fully on the same day.

After I went last time with my dangie and my bro, I thought my manz would love this place so much, and he was absolutely charmed! We spent some time thinking about the various decor

We got the peanut tofu appetizer, which was small, but extremely delicious!

It’s similar to a sesame tofu dish we tried somewhere else before that I forgot lol… but I think it’s homemade tofu. I really enjoyed it

This time, I ordered the garlic miso salmon special dish that I saw last time and OMG it did not disappoint. I’ve never had a salmon dish that tasted like this… It definitely would’ve been nice to eat it with something like rice, but the taste was phenomenal

The arrangement was so pretty as well… I didn’t know where to dig in

Since Habuya is next to a grocery store, after enjoying dinner, I finally got to satisfy my ice cream craving that I’ve been having for weeks!

Recently, Holo has been super cute on her walks

With the leftover ube latte, I made a strawberry ube second serving of it the next day. The espresso was so strong it still overpowered the new additions I put in hehe

At Tokyo Central last time, I saw this cute seasonal variant of &honey’s pixie hair oil… which was SO cute I almost checked it out right away. Like, look at that cat top!

However, I decided to wait on the thought of it for a bit, and decided to order it from Yamibuy where it’s a little cheaper. I like this oil a lot more than the melty moist version - I think pixie is meant for fine/lightweight hair like mine, so it’s really nice

I think I can continue to use melty moist for when I blow dry my hair, and pixie for finishing

I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls

Ben Farthing

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Genre: Horror

TW: Puppets (lol), gore, vore?

Summary Johnny chases the possibility of his beloved late Grandpa's puppeteering body being alive again, but he ends up heading deeper, and deeper, and deeper. How did this apartment get so big?

Opening Line The first night I slept in my missing grandpa's apartment, a puppet came out of the wall and stood over my bed.

I haven’t reviewed them yet, but I’ve also read this author’s previous books: I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House and I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall. Apparently, these are books kind of in a similar style but are standalone and don’t need to be read in any order! This one is probably my favourite of the ones I’ve read!

A bit House of Leaves-like at a point, this story is fairly strange and needs a bit of suspension to enjoy fully, but what fun tale doesn’t? In general, the story of this kind of reminded me of the many indie horror game playthroughs I like to watch in that its gore horror can be pretty upfront and then there are… unexpected moments.

A quick read so I blasted through it, but really, most of that was because I just wanted to keep knowing more and couldn’t put it down! I had a few laughing moments too as the writer has a clever way of putting together some phrases that make it entertaining to read

The author typically includes an afterword at the end which includes his reason for writing that story, which I really enjoy! I’ll try to review the other books some time as well, but I really like this series something horror-lite, like a ‘beach read’

Nowhere

Allison Gunn

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Genre: Horror

TW: Child loss, freaky children

Summary Tragedy-struck couple Finn and Rachel try working through their dissolving marriage and grief, surrounded by guilt over the loss of their son in an accident. However, as disturbing crimes and disappearances of children in their town start to pile up mysteriously similar to local folklore, they find they need to see how to repair what they can to survive.

Opening Line 'Uh, guess again, Charlie.' Rachel glanced at her two girls, the keys in the ignition swung two and fro. Her dark aviator sunglasses hid her disapproval. Nevertheless, she was sure Charlie knew exactly how Rachel felt about her going out to Roanoke with Gemma Thopmson while Alex, her brother, served as the sole chaperone for the outing.

To start this review, I’ll mention that I don’t typically like these themes: violence targetting children (even if by horror) and toxic marriages. I just don’t really like those tropes that much, but I thought I’d try reading this as it’s popular with a “small town horror” theme.

The premise of this book feeling rather “folklore-y” in a small town is always a fun read! I was surprised to see that this is the author’s debut novel as I thought overall it was a pretty sooth read - I couldn’t stop reading it, even though I kind of dreaded it.

To be honest, I really disliked all characters in this book and especially one of the protagonists particularly - and I’m not sure if we’re supposed to dislike this character. They made a lot of decisions that felt more annoying to read rather than a realistic portrayal. I rather like flawed character depictions, but this was more like… I couldn’t care about their issues because they were so unlikeable (LOL).

Overall, I think the story was fun if not quite bleak/disturbing and I kept wanting to know more, but the execution ended up a bit messy. I would read another book by this author, but this specific story was just okay to me!

Weekend Joys

• daily

Hello I’ve titled this post “Weekend Joys”, but I’ll actually back up a bit all the way to last Monday! I’d like to record some of my small happy moments here more My hand eczema has been acting up a lot recently unfortunately, so it’s hard for me to journal/write on paper since I have to have heavy lotions on constantly… but then I remembered I have a blog, too

On Monday, jume spontaneously asked me if I wanted to have lunch at the office, so I joined in! I was honestly just feeling like a big salad, so that’s what I got. I got some avocado and egg as a treat

But most of all, I was so excited to see that this office has my newest obsession in their snack cabinet: Barebells protein bars!!!

Wore a simple outfit with my new evelyn sweater over an old mille fille closet skirt. I just wanted something easy to wear I’m so happy I got this sweater. I really love how comfortable it is - though it’s still generally a cropped design, it’s not as high-waist/cropped as other evelyn sweaters I have, so this one is a lot easier to wear casually

Later in the week, I met up with my dangie and my bro at Habuya Okinawan Dining in Tustin - it’s a local izakaya spot that I found after discovering we procrastinated too much to eat anywhere else for the cravings we had without perhaps waiting until 8-9pm

This place doesn’t take reservations, so I was able to waitlist & arrive in perfect time for us to be seated without too much wait! I didn’t realise Tustin has so many little diners like this - we really need to eat out here more

I had a brain skip and ordered the salmon ikura bowl even though I have always removed ikura from my bowls lol… but in an effort to be a good customer, I made my first attempt to eat ikura ever And… it turned out pretty good!? It didn’t have the “popping boba” effect that I thought it’d have… though it was still quite a bit salty for my preference! The bowl overall was incredibly delicious, though

A silly thing… for some reason I didn’t recognize the fresh housemade wasabi as, well, wasabi, so I scooped half of it and ate it by itself… it was quite an experience

My bro ordered bluefin tuna sashimi and his favourite… an entire karaage appetizer that he finished himself! lol (he offered it to us, but I don’t eat meat and dangie was too full from her own meal)

I just find it funny because the last time the 3 of us ate together, my brother also ordered a karaage that no one else ate and he finished the entire thing himself. A true karaage lover

Dangie ordered a chicken curry that came in such an interesting bowl. I didn’t take a photo, but someone else at another table ordered a ramen and it came in a strangely shaped bowl, too, so when we were waiting for our meals, we kept wondering what kinds of bowls our food would come in

It was super fun to eat together again! Actually, I think this place is such a local gem. They include 15% as gratuity and don’t take tips, which is SO rare. Most of all though, the food was incredible and I want to try so many different things on their menu!

We got HNTea after - a favourite of my manz but I had never been there myself! My dang tried hot milk tea with boba for the first time (she usually gets it cold) It’s my favourite (hot milk tea with boba). I recommend it as long as you know not to burn your tongue (unlike me)

On the weekend, we went with B & E for a spontaneous picnic! It was really lovely since the spring weather is so nice right now I was ready to lay inside and do nothing this weekend, but I’m really glad we went out after all!

My manz wanted farm strawberries since he hasn’t really tried them before, so we zipped into this random farm lot to get some. I was a bit tired so I didn’t get out of the car at this time, but I saw the stand owner show their doggo with B showing off their dog

B & E are really good at making food and picking out great snacks - their homemade bruschetta was incredible My manz made an egg salad that I really enjoyed, too! I took the lazy unprepper’s route and brought fruit and hummus lol

The doggos kept wanting to eat all our picnic food… my manz had to be very much on his guard while Holo’s saliva flew away with the wind

It was so fun watching the dogs chase after balls together! Their dog is the only dog that Holo doesn’t get super aggressive at, so I’m happy it seemed like everyone had a good time

When we got back after the picnic, I knocked out almost right away… it’s really hard to have enough energy for even half a day’s activities, but I’m relieved that B & E are super understanding, they were super nice about it even though I felt bad as a host

On Sunday, I honestly just wanted to sleep the entire day, but we decided to at least get groceries and try the new sakura lychee Junbi miffy collab that I saw. I also saw a Japanese ceramics store on Google Maps when looking up Junbi’s location so I wanted to take a peer inside!

The store is called Orange Tableware and they’re incredible - stocking a lot of artisan Japanese pieces that were so beautiful to look through! I was so tempted, but decided not to get anything too fancy for now. Overall, the pricing of the store seemed really reasonable, which surprised me!

Instead, I was intriged by a Kinto glass + nonslip tray. Since I’ve been trying to make iced matchas lately, a clear glass cup seemed really nice And since I’m really anxious all the time, the nonslip tray looked perfect to help carry things without worry. My manz got them for me as a treat

Fun story…

My manz told me that he’s not going to touch the Kinto glass since it’s so thin and delicate looking - when he was younger, when drinking from a glass cup, he decided to bite on the glass and in an instant it shattered!!! From then on, he hasn’t bitten glass cups anymore…

…but I thought (and so I told him), why would one bite a glass cup???

At the same time, I think… why not, I guess? It’s not really the consumer’s fault if teeth are used on a mouth receptable, right?

Aside from tablewear, they also have cookware like donabe and matcha bowls

Finally, the cute Miffy collab with Junbi: I ordered the sakura lychee milk tea with lychee bits To be honest, I think Junbi is a bit overpriced (although it’s probably standard for Irvine, sigh) but the drink itself was actually super tasty! I got it at 25% sweetness and it was still rather sweet. I really want to make lychee matcha drinks now.

We got our groceries at Tokyo Central, but not until we quickly had a lunch before the manz got hangry. We heard that a new Tokyo Central location is going to open up in Irvine this summer, which is so exciting It’s not that this location is super far, but it’s still a bit farther out, so a closer location is welcome for sure!

The new nonslip tray & Kinto glass in use